London -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Four current and former employees of Britain 's Sun newspaper were arrested by authorities investigating claims of inappropriate payments to police , News Corp. and police said Saturday .

Police searched the men 's homes as well as the East London offices of News International , the News Corp. subsidiary that publishes the Sun and other U.K. newspapers , London 's Metropolitan Police Service said .

A 29-year-old police officer was also arrested Saturday at the central London police station where he works , police said , on suspicion of corruption , misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both offenses . He works for the force 's Territorial Policing command .

Three of the men were arrested at their homes -- two of them , aged 49 and 57 , in the county of Essex , and one aged 48 in London . A fourth , aged 42 , was arrested at an east London police station .

By late Saturday , police said that all five men were subsequently released after posting bail . The current and past newspaper employees were all set to `` return pending further inquiries '' in April or May , according to the Scotland Yard statement .

Earlier , they 'd been questioned on suspicion of corruption , aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office , and conspiracy in relation to those offenses .

The operation `` relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately , '' an earlier police statement said .

News Corp. said it is cooperating with the search of its News International offices .

Police said the operation was the result of information provided to police by News Corporation 's Management and Standards Committee -LRB- MSC -RRB- , which was set up to look into conduct at News International , a subsidiary of News Corp. .

The News Corp. statement said the company had `` made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated . ''

The committee was asked `` to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles . As a result of that review , which is ongoing , the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today 's arrests . ''

The Sun , which is Britain 's best-selling tabloid newspaper , was the sister paper of News International 's now-defunct Sunday title , the News of the World .

A spokeswoman for News International earlier declined to comment on the search of its offices .

The investigation into alleged corruption , known as Operation Elveden , is being run in conjunction with an inquiry into phone hacking prompted by allegations of wrongdoing at News of the World .

The best-selling News of the World tabloid was shuttered in July amid outrage over claims that its staff hacked the voicemail of a missing 13-year-old girl who turned out to have been murdered .

James Murdoch , chief executive of News International and the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch , has insisted that the practice of phone hacking was not widespread .

News Group Newspapers , a subsidiary of News International that was the publisher of News of the World , agreed to payouts in the High Court totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars earlier this month over phone hacking claims .

Among those who read statements in court were Labour Party lawmaker Chris Bryant , former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott , actor Jude Law , the actor 's ex-wife Sadie Frost , and high-profile rugby player Gavin Henson .

News International said the company `` made no admission as part of these settlements that directors or senior employees knew about the wrongdoing by NGN or sought to conceal it . However , for the purpose of reaching these settlements only , NGN agreed that the damages to be paid to claimants should be assessed as if this was the case . ''

Both James and Rupert Murdoch , as well as senior executives at News International , have testified before British lawmakers examining allegations of wrongdoing .

A public inquiry has also been set up to look at claims of widespread misconduct by the British media . Representatives of a range of news outlets have appeared before it .

There have been 13 arrests in connection with Operation Elveden and 17 in relation to Operation Weeting , the phone hacking inquiry , the Metropolitan Police confirmed . Three people have been arrested in connection with both investigations .

Operation Elveden is overseen by the British police watchdog , the Independent Police Complaints Commission .

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NEW : Those arrested have been bailed and the searches are over , police say

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Four current and former Sun employees had been arrested , News Corp. says

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A 29-year-old police officer has also been arrested , London police say

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The arrests were made as part of an investigation into corruption allegations